Manchester City becomes first Premier League club to land sleeve sponsor

Soccer - 17 Mar 2017

Author: Jonathan Rest

Manchester City has become the first club in English soccer's Premier League to sign a shirt sleeve sponsor from next season, after today announcing a deal with Nexen Tire, the South Korean tyre brand.

Nexen became an official partner of Manchester City ahead of the 2015-16 season, and will now sport its logo on the right sleeve of the club's jerseys in 2017-18.

The financial terms of the contract were not disclosed, but Tom Glick, chief commercial officer, told Bloomberg: "The price point would be less than the front of the shirt, but the media value is incredible. There’s only a select number of positions on the top clubs worldwide and many of them aren’t available."

Travis Kang, chief executive of Nexen, said in a statement: "As a Korean company, we consider it an honour to announce the first Premier League club sleeve branding partnership for one of the world’s greatest football clubs, Manchester City, introducing the Nexen Tire brand to football fans worldwide.

"Utilising Manchester City and Nexen Tire’s partnership as a key strategic marketing platform, Nexen Tire expects to increase the value of its business as a global company."

Late last month, reports emerged that the Premier League's leading clubs - a category Manchester City fall into - could be in line for an annual sum of £10 million ($12.4 million) from a shirt sleeve sponsor.

The addition of sleeve sponsors for the first time was made possible by the decision taken ahead of this season to dispense with a title sponsor for the Premier League, albeit bank Barclays remains involved in a lower-tier capacity.

Until this season, ‘Barclays Premier League’ branding appeared on both shirt sleeves, but this has now been replaced by the league’s new logo, which will remain on the left sleeve in the 2017-18 season onwards.

It is reported that two top-flight clubs, one of which is Arsenal, will not be able to source sleeve sponsors as their main shirt sponsorship deals (Emirates, in the north London club's case) include clauses prohibiting other company logos.

Other top European leagues already permit shirt sleeve sponsorship, notably Spain’s LaLiga and France’s Ligue 1, and the Bundesliga will follow suit in 2017-18, when the present collective sponsorship deal between the DFL, the German football league, and Hermes, the logistical services provider, expires.